Cliff Lee to the DL

In what comes as some of a surprise, Cliff Lee is headed to the DL. He is listed as having a left oblique strain. The DL stint is retroactive to April 19th. In his place, Joe Slavery will replace him.

With the injury to Lee, Kyle Kendrick is forced to move into the starting rotation, a place he has shown he is not to confident in. 

I can only assume he injured it when Charlie Manuel left him out there to pitch 10 innings in a 11 inning loss to the Giants on April 18. Manuel has relied heavily on few pitchers to carry the load, and it usually ends in time on the DL. Manuel has been criticized for his use of pitchers last year.


With the Phillies having no hitting, Manuel has overused his starters early in the season, and Cliff Lee is on the DL after just his second start of the season.

Lee was 0-1 this season with a 1.96 ERA. He will absolutely be missed in the rotation.


The injury was first reported by 6ABC's Jeff Skversky.


UPDATE: Howard Eskin is reporting Ruben Amaro Jr. said that Lee suffered the oblique injury during the 10th inning. 0-0 game or not, there is no reason Lee should be in the game at that point. Mismanagement at its finest right there.